February may be the shortest month, but that does not mean I am short on my reading list! This month I have been able to have some great reading opportunities that of course, I will be sharing with you below. Onto my February 2022 in Books.
My to-read list has grown exponentially, thank you for all the recommendations across my socials, I have a pile of books almost half my height to consume over March – but please keep the titles rolling in!
Latest Releases:
The Silent Chapter: A Heartwarming and Heartbreaking Love Story in 20th-Century Britain
Katherine Blakeman
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 406 pages
First Published: 2022
Synopsis:
A 20th-century love story, the classic of opposites attract. We follow the lives of Dorothy and Patrick, their growth and family, navigating the main events of the 1900s.
Review:
A debut novel for this author and my goodness it smacks with potential. The diligence and thought that were taken in planning and crafting this book can be seen on every page.
For my full review of this book click here.
Rating:
The “Must Reads”
The Guest List: A Novel
Lucy Foley
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 330 pages
First Published: 2020
Synopsis:
A B-list celebrity wedding taking place on an island off the coast of Ireland, a storm, a web of secrets….what could possibly go wrong.
Review:
Classic whodunit. The first book I’ve read in this format and it was greatly enjoyable. It has the usual tropes of a murder mystery being isolated on an island with only certain characters, but I was it well thought and fleshed out.
We follow several characters who are pinnacles to the wedding, the bride, the groom, party members, and the wedding planner. Each character is full of secrets and motives, it’s just working out which one has the biggest motive to commit murder.
The ending I did not see coming but also perfect.
Rating:
Yonder
Jabari Asim
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 272 pages
First Published: 2022
Synopsis:
“They call themselves the Stolen. Their owners call them captives. They are taught their captors’ tongues and their beliefs but they have a language and rituals all their own.”
This novel follows a group of enslaved Black “stolen” in the mid-19th century in an unspecified area of the Deep American South. William and Cato are brought together by chance, meeting at Placid Hall under their captor Cannonball Greene. Greene is an egotistical tyrannical plantation owner who is studying his slaves like they are simple animals, all the while treating his own animals better.
We follow the voices of several slaves including William and Cato on their journey from Placid Hall to freedom in this beautifully told novel.
Review:
I’m not sure what I was expecting with this book. Too many books recently seem to glorify the horrors of black history like it’s something clever to do, but in reality, it is one of the most horrific parts of our human history. This book acknowledges so much in such few words, the ignorance of the plantation owners, the complex human relationships, the sheer horror of plantation life; to name a few. This book is not a comfortable afternoon read, there are parts that made my stomach flip, and there are parts that made me smile and cry.
I love the characters all have their own individuality contrary to the opinions of the thieves mentioned. It is a delight to see the development of characters, their strengths, and their weaknesses.
Rating:
The Hunting Party: A Novel
Lucy Foley
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 406 pages
First Published: 2019
Synopsis:
It is Christmas break 2018, a group of friends meets up to welcome the New Year together, a tradition they began as Oxford students ten years ago. For this particular holiday, they’ve chosen an idyllic and isolated estate in the Scottish Highlands. They arrive on December 30th, just before a historic blizzard seals the lodge off from the outside world.
However, on New Year’s Day, one of them is dead…
Review:
The ending of this book really let me down. Ultimately leaving it as a 3-star rating. The burn is slow, the ticking gradually increasing until the firework fails to go off. The choices of the story just left me very disappointed, however, this is after I spent a week devouring the Guest List which gave me such high expectations for Lucy Foley’s works.
The principal of the story, snowed in a hunting lodge in the Scottish Highlands, isolated from the world, old friends who may now be enemies… Love the start. Hate the end.
Rating:
Six Years
Harlan Coben
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Length: 351 pages
First Published: 2013
Synopsis:
Jake Fisher is a man who promises the love of his life that he will keep out of her new life with her husband Todd. Years pass, Jake is a professor at a university working hard and keeping his promise to Natalie. He finds out that her husband Todd has died, so approaches the funeral to see Natalie, just one more time.
Review:
Underwhelmed really. Maybe not the best Coben book to introduce yourself to his work. There were just details in this book that irked me, the lack of research ate at me. I guessed what happened within the first 60 pages so maybe that’s also why I feel so negatively about the whole thing.
Jake Fisher is a man with an infatuation looking to rekindle something with his ex Natalie. After staying away for years and years he shows his face again only to find out everything is not as it seems. zzzz.
As a Thriller to read with no second thought this is fabulous, go out and read it! But if you are looking for something a little intelligent and gripping, leave this book a berth of six years.
Rating:
The Huntress
Kate Quinn
Genre: Historical Fiction
Length: 560 pages
First Published: 2019
Synopsis:
After the war, the hunters become the hunted. Set through the 1940s and early 1950s, the Huntress follows the lives of an international group of people the Nazi hunters and the Nazis in hiding.
Review:
At this point, I don’t think Kate Quinn can do me dirty in a book. An author who does her homework pays attention to her writing and does not romanticize past events. This book starts out a lot slower than her other novels, I was beginning to feel a little tired but then the pace picked up, we went around twists and turns, I got excited at the accuracy of world war history.
Jordan as a character I love her. She is everything society expects her to be and more, she understands what is supposed to happen with her life but against all odds, she ends up following her dream as well. Nina is such a fierce character, her personality is sharp and cutting but also warm and guarded. I would love to know these characters in real life.
The relationships crafted in this are so delicious. I mean that in the way that they are not one dimensional, there is depth there is love, there is fear, trust, such a diverse range of emotions. The “bad guy” is not just evil personified, the “good guy” is not just that.
If you are looking to read something that will give you a little 1940s history and herstory, read this book!
Rating:
Please keep the suggestions coming in!
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